Advocate Editorial Board opinion: Focus on bringing best to every school

By the Advocate Editorial Board
July 2, 2013 at 2:02 a.m.

The Victoria Independent School District has experienced some major changes over the past few years. Two new high schools were built, a new superintendent was hired and last year, the district hired 160 new faculty members, just to name a few.

This year, the district is getting some more changes, including the hiring of new personnel. On June 20, the VISD Board of Trustees named seven new principals during the monthly school board meeting. These, in addition to three previous appointments in May, mean at least 10 VISD schools will have new leadership.

These are a lot of changes in personnel, and we hope each new principal will work to make this a positive change for everyone. These educators must be leaders who are motivated and committed to bringing the best attitude, effort and resources to our students.

Even with all of the recent positive changes, VISD has still struggled when it comes to standardized testing. There are many reasons why this is so, but now that Texas House Bill 5 has become law, some of the problems on the state's end - such as overtesting and curriculum concerns - can be dealt with, which will also allow the district to focus on improving student performance as well.

A principal's leadership is vital to the success of a school, and we encourage these new principals to constantly strive to be the best leaders they can be. Students need a positive, encouraging school experience to inspire them to keep working to improve themselves and reach for a better life. This is a serious responsibility, and we hope you are all up to the challenge.

Congratulations to all 10 of you on your new positions as principals. You have a lot of work ahead of you, and we encourage each of you to keep pushing forward to lead by example and inspire students to reach for excellence.

This editorial reflects the views of the Victoria Advocate's editorial board.